In this episode of the Omnichannel Marketer, host Kait Stephens interviews Alexandra Tanner, VP of Connected Commerce, Naturium at e.l.f. Beauty.
Alexandra shares her career journey from digital marketing and e-commerce at L'Oréal to leading social commerce strategy across its portfolio of brands, and now building connected commerce at Naturium. She discusses the rapid evolution of TikTok Shop from an emerging marketplace into a major commerce channel, why brands need to rethink their approach to creators and affiliates, and what it takes to build a successful TikTok Shop strategy.
The conversation explores how TikTok is fundamentally changing the consumer shopping journey, the growing importance of creator relationships and performance-based affiliate marketing, and why brands need to measure TikTok's impact beyond sales that happen directly on the platform. Alexandra also shares her playbook for driving viral product moments, the challenges of measuring TikTok's halo effect across Amazon, retail, and DTC, and why she believes livestream shopping is the next major opportunity in social commerce.
TAKEAWAYS:
TikTok Shop has evolved from an experimental marketplace in 2023 into a major social commerce channel, with brands and retailers like Ulta, Sephora, and Best Buy recognizing its growing importance.
Unlike traditional e-commerce channels like Amazon, TikTok Shop is primarily a demand creation engine, helping consumers discover products they didn't know they needed rather than simply capturing existing purchase intent.
Successful TikTok Shop strategies require a combination of internal expertise and specialized agency support, particularly across store management, creator relationships, affiliate outreach, and operations.
Creator affiliates are the driving force behind TikTok Shop's growth. In beauty alone, Alexandra estimates there are roughly 500,000 affiliates, but just 1,500–2,000 drive the majority of sales.
Product selection is critical to TikTok Shop success. Brands need to prioritize products that are visually compelling, easy to demonstrate, and capable of capturing attention within the first few seconds, rather than simply following their existing marketing calendars.
As competition increases, brands are investing more in GMV Max to amplify creator content, increase visibility, and improve their chances of generating viral sales moments.
TikTok's halo effect extends far beyond purchases made directly on TikTok Shop, influencing sales across Amazon, retail, and DTC, and how brands are trying to understand this cross-channel impact.
Livestream shopping represents a major growth opportunity for social commerce.
Building a successful TikTok Shop presence requires meaningful upfront investment in creators, product seeding, commissions, paid media, and internal capabilities, but can unlock significant incremental demand for brands willing to commit.
